If an icon were chosen to represent Hurricane Sandy it would probably be the image of the roller coaster that was once on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, N.J., sitting in the surf.Seaside Heights was one of the northern New Jersey shore towns hit hardest by Sandy.

But the South Jersey shore towns in Cape May County, from Ocean City to Cape May, are counting their blessings.

Sure they were inundated by Sandy’s flood tides on Oct. 27, 28 and 29. Ground-floor units and garages of beachfront houses had water damage and were filled with 3 to 5 feet of sand. Some streets looked like sand dunes, and many homes sustained signficant damage. But the towns themselves, especially the boardwalks, remained intact.

Jim Mallon, director of community services in Ocean City, said constant replays of a section of the Atlantic City Boardwalk that was destroyed by the storm have given some a mistaken impression that the entire Jersey shore was destroyed.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. The section of Atlantic City Boardwalk in question was being prepared for demolition and replacement prior to the storm.

During a recent tour of Ocean City, Sea Isle, the Avalon-Stone Harbor area, the Wildwoods and Cape May, it was evident that any damage done by Sandy was remediated. And leaders in the area are eager to get out the message that they are ready for the annual migration of beachgoers.

In fact, officials in the Cape May County shore towns say they think this could be their best summer ever.

Ocean City

Don’t tell Paul DiFillippo that Sandy was kind to the South Jersey shore.

DiFillippo, 80, said he retired 28 years ago and has been living in Ocean City for the past 20 years.

He had to spend six weeks in a motel and lost most of his furniture when storm tides flooded his first-floor apartment on 16th Street between Bay and Ocean avenues. The Federal Emergency Management Agency gave him $2,000 for living expenses and a $9,000 low-interest loan.

“They said I could pay it back over 30 years so you know I’m never going to pay that loan off,” he joked.

DiFillippo said several small businesses on Asbury Avenue downtown closed for good after the flooding.

“I think some people may be disappointed when they come down this summer and see the empty storefronts,’ he said.

Oddly enough, though some businesses downtown were flooded, stores on the boardwalk suffered little if any damage, Mallon said.

The beaches were eroded, but a pumping project is underway to move sand that piled up to the areas that need it, according to Mallon.

“The beaches will be as you remembered them come Memorial Day,” he said.

Mallon and Kevin Redmond, president of the Ocean City Board of Realtors, said that even if there had been more significant storm damage, the Ocean City faithful would return this summer.

For about two weeks after the storm, Mallon said the city was flooded with phone calls from people asking if their favorite shore town was still there.

“I think we did a good job of getting the message out that the damage was not that bad,” Mallon said. “People come back to Ocean City because they love it here, because of the positive image of it they have in their minds.”

Redmond said summer rentals are keeping pace with last year.

“Keep in mind, last year was our best season ever, so if we match last year we’ll be very happy,” Redmond said.

And the $500 million causeway and public fishing pier that replaces the old Ninth Street Bridge linking Somers Point to Ocean City will be completed by Memorial Day, easing the traditional Saturday morning traffic jam as weekly renters arrive.

“Easter weekend was packed,” Redmond said. “I call them the scouts, and the message they took back home was that Ocean City is open for business.”

Redmond said he has only anecdotal information about an influx of people coming south because of the damage Sandy caused to summer haunts in the northern part of the state. He said no one he knows has jacked up rents in anticipation of bigger demand this summer.

“It doesn’t do you any good to raise your rates above what the market will bear,” Redmond said. “All that does is get you vacancies, and no owner wants that.”Sea Isle City

Dave Farina now pays his property taxes in the same room where he learned his ABCs.

It’s evidence of the fickle way in which Sandy devastated northern New Jersey but spared areas to the south.

Even though Sandy struck at the heart of Farina’s native Sea Isle City, most of the homes and businesses there were spared by the storm.

Meanwhile the Sea Isle City municipal and public safety buildings were inundated by flood waters. Plans are underway to tear down the police station and replace it with an all-purpose recreation and community service building.

City government and the police department were relocated to a former elementary school. As luck would have it, the school was closed last year and Sea Isle kids now go to school in Ocean City.

“It’s a little weird paying your taxes in a classroom you once inhabited,” Farina said. “But it didn’t take much retrofitting to put them into the school. That really worked out well.”

Sea Isle spokeswoman Katherine Custer said her big concern is that people will visit the town during the off-season and think the construction projects underway are in response to Sandy.

Major roadwork in the area was scheduled before Sandy hit.

“Sea Isle City’s beaches have plenty of sand and are ready to welcome visitors this summer,” Custer said.

In fact, Sea Isle’s slogan this year is “We’re Ready,” she said.

“We are ready,” agreed Sea Isle Mayor Leonard C. Desiderio. “We still get people calling us asking if the beaches will be open, and I keep telling them we are ready.”

“We also did some advertising up north in Monmouth and Ocean counties,” Desiderio said. “As a result there has been early interest in Sea Isle this year.”

Avalon and Stone Harbor

Avalon makes up 4.5 miles and Stone Harbor occupies the southern end of the area known to locals as Seven Mile Island, which experienced historic flooding last fall, as did other areas up and down the coast. But it didn’t take long for recovery to begin.

“A lot of places downtown had water up to their door handles on Oct. 28, and they were open for business by Thanksgiving,” said Scott J. Wahl, public information officer for the two towns.

Vehicles and other property were swept away by the floodwaters.

“You saw things you don’t normally see,” Wahl said. “But if you came down here now you wouldn’t know we had historic flooding.”

There is some evidence of Sandy. The shore road connecting Avalon and Sea Isle City was still washed out last week, but the county has promised Seven Mile Islanders that it will be open by Memorial Day.

Avalon and Stone Harbor contracted with a dredging firm to conduct beach replenishment during the off-season, Wahl said. Avalon’s beaches are ready.

“Stone Harbor’s beachfront will be officially opened by Mayor Suzanne Walters on Thursday, May 23, the same day a large beach fill project will conclude,” Wahl said. “Beaches in the southern and central portions of the community have new sand and all beaches will be open for Memorial Day weekend.”

One of the businesses that suffered flood damage in Avalon was Armadillo, Ltd., a upscale boutique on Dune Drive operated by Jacquie Ewing, a former Wall Street hedge fund trader turned seaside merchant.

“We had three high tides in here,” Ewing said as she showed photos of the aftermath of the flooding, including the lower third of the wall board in the shop being cut away. A water line is visible on a large credenza she uses as a display case.

Because the town had sufficient warning, she was able to move most of her merchandise and equipment out of the store.

“We had 24 inches of water in here, and you don’t know what’s in that water,” she said with a shiver. “We worked from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to make the repairs, and by Thanksgiving this town was jammed.”

Record crowds came to the island for Thanksgiving, with about 6,000 turning out for a free street fair experience.

“To the people up north, Sandy was devastating,” Ewing said. “To us this has been a hardship, an inconvenience, and an experience, but we had something left to rebuild.”The Wildwoods

Harry Tsakiris has owned Harry’s Corner on the Wildwood boardwalk for almost 30 years. So it was with some trepedation that he agreed to leave the place Oct. 26, when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ordered the evacuation of the Garden State’s barrier islands.

“It was the last day we were to be open when they chased us,” Tsakiris said. “It was a bad experience. There were a lot of people panicking. We closed everything and went to Philly.”

Luckily Sandy struck the Jersey shore about 50 miles north of the Wildwoods — Wildwood Crest, Wildwood and North Wildwood.

“I had 3 feet of water in my house in North Wildwood, but when we got back here there was no damage at all,” Tsakiris said. “All my signs, windows, everything was still intact. We got very lucky if you ask me.”

Tsakiris and others said nor’easters in January and February did more wind damage around town than Sandy.

Ben P. Rose, marketing director for the Wildwoods, said the shore towns never skipped a beat. And he said summer rentals are way ahead of last year.

“For the first time last year the revenues from our hotel tax exceeded $4 million, and summer rentals were up 13 percent over 2011,” Rose said. “Realtors I have spoken to tell me our summer rentals already are 30 percent ahead of last year, so this is shaping up to be our best summer ever.”

Rose said he has no evidence that patrons of northern beach towns are coming to Wildwood this summer, but it wouldn’t surprise him if they were.

Rose said it’s going to take a lot more than a super storm to wash away the Wildwoods’ beaches.

“There are 1,100 feet of beach between the Wildwood Convention Center and the ocean,” Rose said. “Our beaches are fine.”

Cape May

Dr. Edward J. Mahaney Jr. said there were only 145 minor claims submitted to the federal Emergency Management Agency by Cape May residents for flood damage caused by Sandy.

The beaches suffered erosion, but remediation efforts have been underway for months.

“The beaches will be in great shape in time for the start of the beach season in May,” Mahaney said.

Mahaney, mayor of Cape May, is more concerned with the coming summer tourism season than he is about any memories of the storm.

“We have to be a year-round place in order to survive economically,” Mahaney said. “We have to be busy every year from Valentine’s Day to New Year’s Day in order for our businesses to remain solvent and to provide the services our people need.”

He said the city experienced about $150,000 in losses due to the storm, including 2.3 miles of snow fencing that was washed off the sand dunes and must be replaced.

When he hears someone complain about the amount of emphasis put on Jersey shore communities, particularly when their beaches, real estate or infrastructure are destroyed by coastal storms, he remembers why going down the shore means more than just fun in the sun.

Mahaney said tourism in Cape May County is a $5.1 billion industry that pumped $484 million into New Jersey’s general fund last year.

Rentals are up 20 percent so far this season and, judging by the home ZIP codes of the renters, many are coming from northern New Jersey, he said.

“As a group we’re going to market the town, but we’re not going to take advantage of the devastation up north,” Mahaney said. “We’re saying come stay with us for a year or two and then return to the places you’ve gone to in the past.

“The point that all of our towns are pushing is that we want this tourism to stay in New Jersey and not leave the state,” he said.

Meghan Protasi, manager of Fred’s Surf Shop, said she thinks Cape May is going to have a great summer.